Get in touch with Callum
Follow him on Twitter: @Callumchapman
Follow his website: www.circleboxcreative.com
Follow his diary: www.callumandalex.com

1. Welcome to Creativeoverflow, please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and how you got started in the Blogging/Design Industry?

Hi everyone! I’m Callum Chapman. I’m a user interface designer mainly focusing on iOS applications and web design. I’m from Cambridge, United Kingdom, but recently (August 2011) moved to Melbourne, Australia, to work for an awesome company called MUD Inc, who created a great iPhone navigation app called Mud Map.

I own my own company called Circlebox Creative, and was recently shortlisted as one of the top young designers in 2011. If you like my work, I’d appreciate a vote over at The NET Awards. Thanks!

I got into the industry when I left college in 2009, but had an interest in design for as long as I can remember. I’m not so much into the blogging industry right now, however getting into it really helped to get my name known and brought in some really awesome clients. How I got into it… good question! Mainly through blogging for my own sites about design and putting together small but handy tutorials. These were picked up by larger blogs and that’s where it all began!

2. Over the last year or two you have launched quite a bit of different websites/blogs and stores and then you end up selling them again. Do you start the sites with the intention to sell and move on? What’s your reasoning behind it?

That’s me all over. I tend to love the idea of things and then over time have the urge to start something new. This attitude usually leaves me with too much on my plate and to make room for new projects means selling others on! My latest was Picmix Store, which I would have loved to keep, but as it was running from the UK and I’m now in Australia, it wouldn’t have been the easiest process!

3. What is a typical day in the life of Callum Chapman like?

At the time of writing, there isn’t really a typical day. Having moved to Australia 10 days ago at the time of writing I’m still settling in and building my new life. I start my job in a few days time and that’s when my new typical day will begin! My previous, however, was get up when I felt like it. Worked 8-12 hours in a day taking various breaks and walks and then chilling out. I have a feeling here in Oz things will change quite a bit, considering compared the UK the weather is much warmer, and I live just 3 minutes from the beach!

4. How much different would your life be if you weren’t able to get up every day and design? What would you be doing?

This is a hard question. Honestly, I don’t know. I’d probably be trying to set up a shop in some awesome “hip” place like Melbourne, London or NYC, selling awesome stuff like posters and prints, books and vinyl toys.

5. What do you think makes up the perfect blog? Is content king? Do you have to concentrate on the layout and design? Your thoughts?

Content is king, end of. You can have the simplest, most boring layout but still have a successful blog raking in the cash if you have brilliant content. Sure, design helps, and is an important factor, but when it comes to keeping users occupied and coming back to your site, it’s the content that is king!

6. I’m aware that you have just moved to Australia, what made you decide to make the big move?

A few things contributed to the decision; I have an Australian passport as my dad was born here, that’s always left the possibility of moving here relatively simple and very inviting! Being stuck in an office all day is hard, but here in Oz I get to enjoy the outdoors a lot more and experience a lot more. Back in the UK there were limited things to do outside unless you were really into certain things (i.e. if I wanted to learn to surf in the UK it would involve joining clubs, meeting new people to go with etc). Here I can just sign up for a lesson one weekend and away I go. Same with most things!

I guess I wanted a more active and exciting but equally as laid back lifestyle! If you’re interested in my move (with my partner), check out http://callumandalex.com. We’re blogging about it all here!

7. A lot of people like seeing what people’s workspace look like, do you have a photo for us with a brief explanation to show where you are working from?

I have a photo of my old workspace; my new one is currently in progress! This is my bedroom studio back in the UK whilst living with my parents (I was saving to move to Oz – one of the most expensive places to live in the world!). I use a MacBook Pro 2.66Ghz Dual Core (would love to get a quad i7 soon!) with 8gb ram, and back in the UK I was using a 24” Apple Display. I’m now using a HP x2301 – I decided to save some cash here as I won’t be using it 12 hours a day now I have a full time job!

8. Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions, is there anything else you would like to say to the up and coming designers/bloggers out there?

No worries! Really just to never give up. If you make mistakes, learn from them. Also, my number one top tip is to take deposits and don’t undercharge. Undercharging is likely to attract “cheap” clients, and they’re fussy, don’t know what they want, and are much more likely to do a runner with your work. If a client is happy to pay a deposit (I take 25%) the chances are they’re going to be awesome to work with. Cheers, and good luck!

Thanks for your time Callum, good luck in Melbourne.

Aart Tanner (Netbloom Studios, USA)

View this designer’s portfolio.

How did you get started in design

I guess it all started at an early age, my childhood dream was to become a cartoonist as I loved to draw and make people laugh. My first encounter with digital art came from using Microsoft Paint on my father’s computer. I used to take doodles I had made and recreate them in Paint using the basic shape tools, the eraser and fill bucket.

Then I moved onto making basic animations and story telling using Microsoft PowerPoint. I know its not exactly “industry standard software,” but it’s all I had, and I managed to pull it off using the basic shape tools and frames… lots and lots of frames.

How did you learn about design, what training did you get?

When it comes to web design, I was pretty much self-taught to begin with. I used to spend hours and hours reading digital art magazines and practising with Photoshop, which evolved into a fondness for website design. I got my first real training experience when I worked as an intern for a small website studio called RDS Networks.

While I was there my boss Ramangave me a professional insight into the basics of web design and print design, and a crash course in XHTML and CSS. After my time at RDS I used what I had learned and started designing websites for people I knew, small businesses and well, anything I could get my hands on.

My second training experience came 2 years ago when I was offer a job at an award winning design agency called TVS Media. These guys were an amazing team, very professional and a lot of fun. I learned more about design and a lot more about the principles of more advanced dynamic coding, but most importantly I learned the value of productivity, time management and how to conduct business with clients. My experience at TVS was a pleasant one and it gave me the tools necessary to be where I am today.

Elisha Leo (Canada / Indonesia)

View this designer’s portfolio.

How did you get started in design?

I grew up in Indonesia and moved to Toronto, Canada early this year. I didn’t know the job existed until thirteen years ago my friend told me about her brother being a graphic designer. Drawing portraits and cartoons are what I love best, besides designing logos. Some of the styles that inspire me are Swiss style design, vintage, gothic, and web 2.0.

How did you learn about design, what training did you get?

I was working as a designer before I learned it formally, so it was like a backward process.

Stuart Burns (sD, Australia)

View this designer’s portfolio.

How did you get started in design?

I was always good at drawing. My first award was a “Certificate of Merit” for a cartoon competition when I was 10, been winning awards ever since through school. I graduated my tertiary studies with a Diploma of Visual Communication and went from there.

How did you learn about design, what training did you get?

I studied at Croydon TAFE in Adelaide and leaned a great deal from great teachers.

John Poppert (Konsepts Creative, USA)

How did you get started in design?

I originally started thinking up humorous t-shirts, pressing them, and selling them myself. That somehow morphed into logo design.

How did you learn about design, what training did you get?

I’ve had no formal training… just the interest and willingness to learn from books, articles, and other designers.

Arun Bhattacharya (James Brown Design, India)

View this designer’s portfolio.

How did you get started in design?

After college, I had taken an initial training in design and multimedia course. Which helped me to learn designing tools such as Photoshop, illustrator and other designing tools. A friend of mine wanted a simple leaflet design and which turned out to be quite good. I believe that I always had a good eye for color and that helped me to come up with professional looking designs as I could criticize my own designs.

How did you learn about design, what training did you get?

I had taken a short course on design and multimedia and that is how I learnt using the tools. I believe to be a designer its more important to have an eye for good things and to understand “good” and “bad” in terms of a design. It helps one to realize what should be sellable and what is not.

Want to get yourself started in design?

All of the above designers use DesignCrowd’s freelance design jobs board. You can use DesignCrowd to submit freelance graphic design bids to potential clients from around the world.

ProSite is definitely a unique product that puts you in control of all the aspects of creating a professional portfolio without touching any code whatsoever. I asked Scott Belsky Founder and CEO of Behance a few questions related to their new product ProSite. You can read the interview below the introduction of ProSite.

I have made use of some material from the release post on The 99 Percent to better explain ProSite for you.

The 99 Percent: In the olden days, creatives lugged around “The Book,” a physical portfolio that was sent around to headhunters and prospective clients whenever an opportunity presented itself. These books were expensive, heavy, and outdated from the moment they were sent.

In recent years, most creative professionals have transformed their portfolio book into a stand-alone website. The stand-alone web portfolio has offered some efficiencies, but fundamental challenges remain: As with old-school portfolio books, you still need to invite, or drive, people to view your site. As we all know, “If you build it, they will come” is not always entirely true. And what if you don’t know how to code a website in the first place?!

ProSite introduces a new concept tailored to the modern creative professional: A connected portfolio website that’s fully customizable, with no coding required.

Few Words with Scott Belsky

Welcome to Creativeoverflow Scott, most people know you, but could you please introduce yourself and tell us when the idea for ProSite started coming about and when did you guys actually initiate the start of the creation of ProSite?

Scott: My team and I at Behance are building the leading online platform for creative careers. The Behance Network (be.net) has become the largest online platform of creative professionals, and our technology now powers portfolio display for LinkedIn, AIGA, AdWeek, SVA, and other sites and galleries around the web.

Behance’s ProSite service was inspired by a big problem we observed among creatives: We spend too much time building and maintaining our own personal portfolio sites while also updating our social network portfolios and other marketing efforts around the web. We need to be more efficient in how we showcase our work and build our careers.

About one year ago we started designing and developing a revolutionary new approach to the “online portfolio.” Just launched, ProSite allows users to build completely custom portfolio websites, using their own domain name, without any coding/CSS knowledge. And the best part is that ProSite-powered websites stay in sync with Behance, allowing you to manage all of your online portfolios in one central place.

You guys have been doing a awesome job with creating online portfolios for designers through the Behance Network, but with your latest edition, you empower the average Joe to create a remarkable online portfolio without any knowledge of coding. What do you take away from helping people simplify their online portfolio needs?

Scott: We were very inspired by “firebug,” a system that developers use to mouse-over the CSS of a webpage and visually see the corresponding elements that relate to the code. We build ProSite to allow full-control over all of a website’s elements with the simple use of sliders and an intuitive interface.

Currently your pricing module for the Full version of ProSite maxes out at $11, do you guys plan on broadening that spectrum at all? Will we see additional packages for the platform in the future?

Scott: We offer UNLIMITED hosting, uploads, bandwidth, and access to all features for $11/month (or as little as $8.80/month with the annual plan). Some other sites have tiered plans that may start cheaper but become more expensive. We want a simple solution that allows people to do everything they want. The MOST important benefit of ProSite is the time saved by having your portfolio automatically in-sync with your marketing efforts online.

It’s amazing to me that some people don’t value their time spent updating their sites. Creative professionals need to spend more time on client work and marketing themselves, and less time updating their personal portfolio site that is only viewed by people they know.

ProSite is a amazing new product, but as you know the internet has a lot of copy cats and thieves around, aren’t you guys afraid of someone building something similar to ProSite within the next few months?

Scott: Anyone can copy design, but the system is one-of-a-kind. ProSite syncs with the Behance Network, as well as LinkedIn, AIGA, AdWeek, and many other sites and galleries around the web. We fundamentally believe that people will move away from isolated and expensive-to-maintain portfolio sites in favor of a more integration and powerful solution.

A lot of people look up to you for your wisdom and the amazing success Behance has had with their network and products, I’m sure a lot of people wonder. “Where does all these ideas come from?” Having read your book I know that you structure your Ideas, but were you a visionary from a young age?

Scott: Well, I think I was lucky enough to find a team of motivated visionaries to work with. My founding vision for Behance was to develop a company that organizes and empowers the creative world. But a vision means nothing without a team that is willing to research, debate, develop, and iterate products that fulfill the mission.

One thing I can say is that we have worked EXTREMELY hard over the past five years and have made many personal and professional sacrifices to make Behance happen. Only in the past couple years has Behance started to gain serious traction, and now the growth is skyrocketing. The reason is that the service is working for the community. We get testimonials every day from users that have found new collaborations, resources, and jobs as a result of the platform. This makes all of the work worthwhile.

Thank you Scott for answering these questions, we appreciate your time and wish you guys the best of luck over at Behance. Is there anything you would like to add or perhaps close on for aspiring artists, entrepreneurs or developers?

Scott: I think we often forget that creativity is not only an opportunity, it is also a responsibility. Creative careers suffer from inefficiency and disorganization. Rather than spend all of our time creating, we need to invest time in PROCESS…asking yourself: “How can I make more of an impact in what matters most to me?”

Take yourself and your creative work seriously. Not only for your own career, but for the rest of us.

Thanks Scott for your time and input

ProSite Inspiration

Even though ProSite has only been recently launched, things took off with a boom and there are hundreds of sites already created using the ProSite platform. Let’s see some of the beautiful outcomes that are already live.

Conclusion

ProSite is a awesome product and there is no better way to get your own unique portfolio online if you aren’t a coding expert. Behance has outdone themselves, so make sure you check out the product and put it to good use.

1. Welcome to Creativeoverflow Paul, can you take some time to tell us a bit about yourself and where you are from?

Hey, Thanks for having me. I AM PAUL WARD; a 22-year-old photographer based in Cape Town, South Africa. I’ve got a degree in Brand Communications specializing in Art Direction behind my name. I am happy when I feel inspired, but happiest when I am told I have inspired others. I am the founder of diaryofward.com, a photographic blog which documents the events of my life. When I grow-up I would like to be a famous advertising photographer, and shoot images that not only look “pretty”, but make people feel “funny” inside. I really really like peanut butter on toast, and hate baby tomatoes.

2. Have you been a creative person since your childhood or did you only discover your passion for photography later in life?

At the age of 15 I asked for a camera for Christmas, because I had chosen Art & Design as subjects in school, and a camera seemed like a good tool to have. I messed around in a lot of mediums in school from animation to pencil drawings, but photography always came up on top. Now I can’t imagine life without a camera.

3. You have some amazing shots in your portfolio, have you studied at all? If so where and what did you study?

I have never formally studied photography, I have read lots of books, and watch lots of videos on the internet, and taken a lot of photos in trial and error, but I feel like I’m still studying the medium, and hope that, that feeling never goes away.

4. Diary of Ward is one of your sites that you upload photos to on almost a daily basis. What gives you the motivation to run this aside from your regular portfolio?

It’s weird I started out taking mainly documentary kind of photographs at high school and loved it, then I started studying advertising, and got caught in the trap of only shooting formal shoots, which were usually just print ads from collage, or model friends portfolios. Then last year I dedicated my self to photography, then when I stopped drinking alcohol for a few months, I thought a camera would be a good replacement to keep me occupied, while I was surround by amazing intoxicated people. Very soon I realized the joy I once felt by documenting what is around me, and framing the world through your lens.

Then when I put a few photos online people really liked them, which was a strange yet rewarding feeling. I had also just finished a book by Malcom Gladwell called “Outliers”, which talks around a theory that it takes 10 000 hours of practice to master your craft, he shows how Bill Gates did it, and The Beatles, so I guess I thought I should probably start edging away at those hours. In short I guess I started doing it for fun, got re-motivated by people, and now I stay motivated because I think in 50 years looking back at these photographs, people might get some insight into what I feel is an interesting and exciting time for Cape Town.

5. If I ever ask someone about Paul Ward, they immediately ask, “Are you talking about the guy that never puts his camera down?” Do you enjoy being labeled as the guy that always has his camera with him?

I wouldn’t say I enjoy the label, or don’t enjoy it. Its really not important to me, I do it for my own reasons, and its very satisfying. Put it this way if I stopped feeling fulfilled by it, I would stop straight away. ( but also in school I was known as the guy with the camera, so its not new to me, at least now a few people say my name, and then follow with… that guy with the camera.)

Editor: I definitely think being labeled as the guy with the camera isn’t a bad slogan for a photographer.

6. Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years from now? Still living in Cape Town?

While I am still young I do want to travel, and work abroad, learn from the master photographs around the world. But South Africa will always be home, and if I did stay away for awhile, I would bring back valued knowledge that would hopefully benefit the country, in some way or another. So in 10 years when its time to settle down I would like to be a world renowned photographer who works out of Cape Town, for all the big brands around the world.

7. If something ever happened and you lost the ability to continue shooting photographs, what would you do for a living?

My mom actually asked me this question the other day, I replied sarcastically what would you do? And got out of answering it. Guess that won’t work here. I value my background in advertising and branding, and if I lost my sight I would focus more on idea generation which is half the process of a good photograph any how.

A good friend of mine and mentor Andrew Putter, up until recently never used to take any photographs, yet his fine art medium is photography, he conceptualizes amazing projects and has the ability to bring them together by collaborating with others, so that would defiantly be a road to follow if I ever did loose my ability to shoot.

8. Which of your tools won’t you be caught dead without? (Camera, Laptop,Lenses etc)

Well a camera’s not much good with out a lens, so if we separating those two, it would probably be an Ipod touch. Then I could listen to music, take photos, record a video on 720p HD, wait am I stuck alone on an island? That’s what I was imagining…

Editor: Haha, I was actually referring to any tool, but sure if you were stuck on an island, a iPod touch could work!

9. Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, any last words, shout outs or advice?

I think the best advice I could give to young creatives would be to just make stuff, put it out there, and see what happens, take any opportunities no matter how big or small and absolutely put your heart into it. I find the idea of a “BIG” break, is usually comprised of many and many little opportunities which all add up… and Believe in yourself, cause if you don’t why should anyone else.

CREATE & INSPIRE FOREVER AND EVER AHEM

Thank you Paul for joining us here on Creativeoverflow, we wish you the best of luck for 2011 and beyond.

If you would like to get hold of Paul, follow him through his two sites and on Facebook.

R: I’m Richard, and I’m twenty years old. I was born in the U.K, but am now living in the United States. My interests in digital art started about six years ago, and since have worked hard at improving my skills. Two years ago I started theotherstream, which is my company and online portfolio. Currently, I’m working hard on some new personal illustrations and have set some great goals for myself for the upcoming year, so keep an eye out for some fresh new illustrations. One thing that basically nobody knows about me is that I’m an avid tea drinker, bordering on obsession. Another would be that I am a huge film buff and treasure my 250+ DVD collection. I love finding inspiration from films to create art, and am often motivated after seeing a great film. Some of my favorites are V For Vendetta, Avatar, Black Swan, Fight Club, and District 9.

R: I’m actually the opposite of the typical cliché of the “drawing since I could hold a pencil” type, and I was never really into art until I was about thirteen. I wrote stories and drew pictures, so I guess I have always had that creative streak, but I never thought growing up that I would be so heavily influenced by art and that it would someday be my profession. I’m definitely more of a visual learner and thinker. In my free time, I draw and sketch all the time, trying to catch up on all those lost years!

R: I swear by the “Jack Johnson Genre” created by my Pandora station. I’m always listening to chill-type music when I’m working on art, but I also love to listen to alternative rock, indie, and a bit of hip hop and jazz.

R: I usually just have an idea or thought in my head that I think would work, then I write it down along with other words that go along with it, which then leads to some sketching and so forth. I never really give myself a blank canvas to start with, because my mind is never a blank canvas. There’s always some sort of idea in there for a good piece. I believe that the best pieces are created after a lot of thought, ideas, planning and expansion are all put into/considered beforehand. Once I have my sketch, I look for some photo resources because my style is mixed-media (photo manipulation, digital painting) and from there I start manipulating and painting my piece. The process takes about a week to a month of work, but it depends on the piece, and especially depending on a deadline.

R: I see myself still running theotherstream, with a grown client base and possibly having a partner in the company. I will definitely still be designing, hopefully more then than ever before. I really do support creating art for a cause, such as my DACS (Designers Against Child Slavery) piece. I can see myself doing more of that type of work, which in a very small way can in fact change the world.

R: You mean other than the fact that I would be driven to insanity? I would love to be involved with/study politics, culinary arts, or maybe something to do with outer space which really interests me.

R: Surprisingly, I can manage to pick one! My “Supernova” piece is my favorite, which I created over November-December 2010. One of the reasons why this piece is so special to me, because while listening to the song “Champagne Supernova” by Oasis, the image of my piece-to-be popped into my head, and thus was created. The finished product was almost identical to the image I first had, and I really had fun working on this piece especially.

R: I’m currently working from home. I’m planning on expanding into a bigger and nicer office space as soon as possible! One negative side of having your office in your home is that there are many distractions around and it is very hard to disconnect where you live from where you work. One positive thing would be that it’s convenient and there’s no immediate need to leave home when it’s -10 degrees Fahrenheit outside! I will never recommend traveling to Wisconsin in the winter for this reason.

R: Thanks for providing a great interview for me, and I wish the best for Creativeoverflow during the years to come!

Get in touch with Richard through the following links below

theotherstream | Deviantart | @theotherstream

Jacques van Heerden: Hi Sebastiano, welcome to Creativeoverflow. Can you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about what you do?

Sebastiano Guerriero: Howdy to all Creativeoverflow readers! I’m an Italian graphic designer who spent the last 3 years studying graphic design by himself. After a degree in Economics I understood that I preferred to spend my days creating cool stuff with my computer, rather than work in a bank. After 1 year from my degree I have been stubborn and lucky enough to run WeGraphics, my own business into the design market.

Jacques van Heerden: Have you always aspired to be a designer from when you were a little kid? Were you one of those kids that always carried a sketch book around in his backpack?

Sebastiano Guerriero: No. When I was a child my main ambition was to become a professional football player. After 3 years with not-so-good results I decided to try with music, but to be a pianist without a piano was too difficult for me. Then I switched from Investigator/superhero to lawyer, traveler and economist. Seriously, I have always been attracted by all what concern art and design, but the first time I opened Photoshop was only at the age of 21. Once fascinated enough from the design world, I decided to become a graphic designer, and it’s what I’m doing today and what I shall want to continue.

Jacques van Heerden: You run a successful Premium Resource website for designers; When did the idea of starting such a site grip you, or have you always wanted to help others simplify their work through providing resources for them?

Sebastiano Guerriero: I started WeGraphics in December 2009, and it was nothing more than a personal blog where I shared Photoshop tips and released free design resources like brushes, textures and vectors. I used a free WordPress theme and tried to write as much articles as possible to sell advertising banners. A few months later I met my actual business partner, Piervincenzo Madeo. He is an incredible web designer who ran, at that time, a well known design blog, PVMGarage. One evening I told him: why don’t you sell your blog and start working with me on a new exciting project? Well, he was crazy enough to say yes. The real birth of WeGraphics was in June 2010. It took 2 months of work with Piervincenzo to create the new site. The idea was simple: provide the best quality design resources, all in one place, at a very affordable price. Until now it’s working fine, and now I and Piervincenzo are managing a team of creative designers!

Jacques van Heerden: You create a lot of different resources for WeGraphics and the problem that a lot of designers face is finding inspiration to create new things. Where does your inspiration come from?

Sebastiano Guerriero: I have a mania for details, so every time I go into a clothing store, a library, when I watch a film, my attention is grabbed by apparently superficial details: lines, dots, fonts, color combinations, lineaments…which have an influence on my work. Of course I re-elaborate everything according with my feelings and style. It always happens that I start from a precise idea and end with something totally different.

Jacques van Heerden: Who was your main influence into pushing you into the career of designing?

Sebastiano Guerriero: When I was 21, I came across digital art communities such us DEPTHCORE and slashThree. I was stroked by the beauty of those works, so I decided to start creating art by myself.

Jacques van Heerden: Can you describe to us what a day is like in the life of Sebastiano? What are a few websites that you frequent? (please exclude google, facebook and twitter), do include your schedule of filling your body with caffeine etc..

Sebastiano Guerriero: I generally start working about 9 in the morning, with a surf in the design community updates. After replied to the emails and monitored WeGraphics statistics, I’m ready to work on new contents and new resources. During my working hours I’m always in touch with my collaborators, in order to decide together the new sets to publish. A great support is given by WeGraphics members suggestions. At 7-8 in the evening I need to go out from my computer, and I generally go to meet my friends. During the working time I can’t drink less than 5 coffee and eat less than 5 times!

Jacques van Heerden: Are you a MAC or PC user? Could you describe to us why you use the one over the other? (Perhaps include a pic of you Setup)

Sebastiano Guerriero: I’m currently working on a iMac 24″. I use Apple products because I appreciate their reliability and performance. Since I switched from a pc to a Mac, I never miss Windows.

Jacques van Heerden: Thank you for taking your time to answer some questions on Creativeoverflow. Do you have something to add for upcoming designer/illustrators perhaps?

Sebastiano Guerriero: Thanks you Jacques for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts with your community. My only advice for upcoming designers is: when you see incredible works, web design projects or digital masterpieces, never think that it’s something impossible for you to realize. A designer needs, as all the other professional figures, to study hard and experiment a lot before to be able to realize satisfactory works.

Follow Sebastiano @WeGraphics

Follow Sebastiano on Behance

Q: Welcome to Creativeoverflow Louis. Would you please introduce yourself and tell us what you do?

Hi, my name’s Louis Gubitosi and I work full-time as a web designer at Liz Claiborne Inc. I also run a blog at Interactive Blend and maintain a website called The Web Blend which is a community for designers, developers and tech junkies that keeps you current with a summary of the latest in web related news and trends.

Q: When did you come up with the Idea for TWB?

I came up with the idea about 3 years ago. It started out as a news site built with WordPress and with articles only submitted by myself. I then allowed the community to submit articles, but it was still missing something… and that was some type of voting system. I then switched from WordPress to Drupal and installed the appropriate modules necessary to build my site. We now have about 3,300 total members and we’re still growing…

Q: Did you develop TWB all by yourself?

The first phase built in WordPress I did develop all by myself, but when I made the switch to Drupal a couple of people helped out. John Campbell from Design Bump was one of them who really answered a lot of my questions to get me started.

Q: Everyone knows you from The Web Blend, but why do we hear so little about Interactive Blend?

Haha, I guess because I don’t blog there as much as I should. Thanks for the heads-up! The truth is I spend most of my time at work and at nights and weekends I’m maintaining The Web Blend. I’m in the middle of giving Interactive Blend’s logo and website a facelift, so hopefully I can revive the site and bring it more attention. (sneak peak below)

Q: What do you like and hate about your day job?

I like having the ability to work with people from all different departments. It keeps me well-rounded and adaptable when I have to design for different people, each with their own design requirements. I don’t really dislike anything about my job; I’ve learned a lot since I’ve joined the company, and I’m still learning new things everyday.

Q: If you weren’t a designer what would you be doing?

Hmmm… I’d like to play professional baseball for the New York Yankees, but I guess you’re looking for a realistic answer. I guess if I wasn’t a designer I’d probably be doing some sort of accounting. I actually switched majors in college from accounting to web design my sophomore year at Rutgers because I was just to bored with it.

Q: If you could stay anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Italy. I’ve been there once before, but would love to go back.

Q: Thanks a lot for taking time to answer our questions Louis, is there anything you would like to say to the Readers?

Jacques, thanks for giving me this opportunity for your readers to learn more about me. I’m a big fan of Creative Overflow and I really appreciate what you’ve done for the design community. If it wasn’t for you and our fellow designers, we wouldn’t have such a rapid growing community to share our ideas and work, and we wouldn’t have sites like The Web Blend.

Thanks for the kind words Louis, really do appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to answer the questions we provided. Do keep up with your good and hard work. Having a site such as The Web Blend is more beneficial to the community than you think. Good luck for future plans, I bet we will hear a lot more from you.

1. Welcome to Creativeoverflow, please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and how you got started in the blogging field?

Hi everyone, my name’s Walter Apai and I live in Vancouver, Canada. I started designing CD covers for my CD compilations. I loved the fact that I could create anything I wanted in Photoshop. This lead me to study web design and eventually starting my own blog with WDD.

2. Is Webdesignerdepot your full time job? If so do you work from home or do you have a office?

I don’t work exclusively on WDD, but I don’t have a typical day job either. I started as a web designer, but eventually, I became an entrepreneur and started several businesses online with WDD being my first attempt at running a blog. I work from home and virtually connect to other members of my team via the web. Working from an office was something that I contemplated for a while but decided against it. I think you should do what comes to you naturally and the prospect of a structured approach and office hours didn’t sit well with me at all.

3. Thousands of people are inspired and make use of the content that you deliver on Webdesignerdepot, How do you keep the good articles coming?

The web and blogging in general are a very fast moving target. You need to constantly listen and evaluate people’s interests, while remaining true to yourself and the nature of the blog. I work with many authors and we sometimes bounce ideas off each other. I also read books, magazines and other online content to keep me fresh and updated. One interesting thing is that the articles themselves and the comments that people leave are often the source of inspiration that leads to future articles. Sometimes I really don’t have to go too far to look for the next thing. I also receive tons of emails with ideas and suggestions all the time. The trick is learning to say ‘no’ more than learning to say ‘yes’ as I get more ideas than I can use.

4. If you had the chance to start WDD over, is there anything that you would do different?

I’m not the type of person that usually looks back, but not to escape your question altogether, I’d say that the one thing that I’d have done differently is simply launching WDD sooner in my career:) Other than that, I’m pretty happy with how things turned out so far and I have no regrets.

5. When you started WDD how long did it take for the blog to become successful and build up a sturdy amount of Followers? It didn’t just happen over night did it?

It wasn’t overnight, but it was a pretty quick process. Blogging involves many things with the most important thing being great content, however, a memorable design and good marketing and promotion are key to the success of most businesses these days. Knowing how to market yourself, your blog and your content was instrumental in the success of WDD and it continues to be to this day.

6. Thanks a lot for making time in your busy schedule to answer our questions. Is there anything that you would like to say to all the other start up bloggers out there?

Blogging is great, but it can be really tough as well. In a field saturated with information, and with tons of blogs doing the exact same thing, you need to constantly push for fresh ideas and bring a unique edge whenever possible. You need to be super passionate at what you’re doing or you’ll burn out in no time. The rewards are great though and the hard work pays off if you stick to it. Thanks a lot for having me here Jacques and good luck with CreativeOverflow.

Once again, thanks Walter for being part of the short interview. Remember to follow Webdesigner Depot on Twitter at @designerdepot and to follow his blog.

Artist: Kode Logic
Identity: BossLogic
Portfolio: dabosslogic.com
Prints: Bosslogic Prints

1. Welcome to Creativeoverflow, please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and how you got started in the field?

I am a designer from the heart of Melbourne Australia. My real name is Kode, you say it like code not kody. I have been designing for a little over 5 years now, my love of the art of drawing got me failing school, but leading to my new found home in art. People always miss read my design name for something argent,Bosslogic was made from Boss being your life you run it, and if we think in logic we can’t think wrong, so Bosslogic ultimately means you run your life the right way.

2. What was your first experience with Photoshop? And tell us how you have evolved as an artist since then, what lessons have you learned that stuck with you all these years?

Well truth be told i got in to photoshop to make things that make me laugh like swapping heads and things like that but then i started transferring my skills of drawing and concept in to it and now i am at this stage, its been a long road, but i am still only at the beginning of it.

3. Have you studied yet? If so where?

Money wasn’t to good growing up , so i had to drop out of school and work, cause of the money i wasn’t doing to good anyway, but that is what led me to art sketching anything i see.

4. From Illustration to photo manipulation, how do you manage to blend so many different styles together into one consistent whole?

People call it my style, but I do not like to think i have a style due to art has no set face so it is always ever changing so i want to change with it, though these past couple of years i have been making art that means something to me visual storytelling you may say. I mix my art with me writing to get a stronger more raw feeling out of my works so ill be doing this style for a while.

5. What is the most important lesson you have learned since you started designing?

Exactly what my grand father told me, Do not ever think you are great at what you do, because the hunger to get better will forever disappear that and always save ever major step in a design project.

6. Have you ever contemplated on what you would be doing if you didn’t become a Designer?

It was art or nothing, i draw, i write and photograph, I paint why do something you don’t love?

7. What can we look for from you in the future? What projects will you be working on?

I am aiming high so God willing i will reach these goals and i am venturing in the world of cg digital painting, but you wont see something for a while.

8. Thanks again for the opportunity to interview you. Do you have any final thoughts or tips for our readers?

Haters comes with the title, so all i can say is hold on , no matter what they do, do what you do best and keep at it, remember error is key to success, build off your errors and you will shine, all it takes is a little hard work and remember art is not emotional it is emotion in-itself, so if you are able to stimulate a mind in a drawing of a dot, then the artist has done their job, and don’t forget there is only one person the needs to like your work and that person is not you but just that one person.

Portfolio

Deviantart

Be Sure to check out Kode’s Work.

Interviewed: Jacob Gube

Occupation: Blogger and Designer

Sites: Six Revisions – Design Instruct

Twitter: @Sixrevisions

1. Welcome to Creativeoverflow, please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and how you got started in the Blogging Industry?

Hello, my name is Jacob Gube (pronounced “Goobeh“). I’m a web developer and web designer based in the U.S. I run the website called Six Revisions, which provides useful information for web designers and web developers. I’m also the Co-Founder of Design Instruct, a design tutorial web magazine for designers and digital artists that provides high quality and comprehensive tutorials. I’m also a book author and my first book was just recently published by the awesome people at Packt Publishing. It’s called MooTools 1.2 Beginner’s Guide.

I got started in 2008 with Six Revisions. It started out as a way for me to keep track of all the things I learned while building sites. Through time, it’s evolved into a multi-author site with articles written by designers and developers from around the world.

Design Instruct (http://designinstruct.com) is my newest web project. It was born out of an idea my brother and I had about creating a web magazine that features high quality tutorials for designers and digital artists to foster our own passions toward design. He’s an extremely talented artist (he’s the creative one in the family), so I know that this project will have an amazing direction. Design Instruct was launched close to the 2nd year anniversary of Six Revisions.

2. You run “Six Revisions” a very successful design blog that has found a place amongst the top design blogs in the world, was that your goal when you started out?

When I started Six Revisions, I had no clear plan or goal. My only driving factor was to share what I loved and knew best, which was building websites. The growth of the site is truly unexpected and I would’ve never imagined that I’d be in the situation I am now.

3. What is a typical day in the life of Jacob Gube like?

I’m a morning person, so I work best in the morning’s. I wake up anywhere between 5:00AM and 6:30AM. The first thing I do is brew a pot of coffee. The process and the smell of the coffee brewing wakes me up. I’ll check emails for a few minutes, process my task list, and plan my day. I’ll work until between 5:00PM and 7:00PM depending on how much I have to do that day.

4. What is your favorite thing to do in any given work day?

I’ll  have to say that the favorite thing in my work day is my freshly-brewed cup of coffee in the morning. Coffee is one of my guilty pleasures.

5. Name two people that have been your source of inspiration towards building and maintaining Six Revisions?

The first is my dad. He works hard and doesn’t seem to mind it. I think in order to be good at what you do, you have to have passion for it.

The second person is Vitaly Friedman of Smashing Magazine. Smashing Magazine has always been a great source of inspiration for Six Revisions, and I love working with them and writing for them.

6. How much different would your life be if you didn’t have Six Revisions? What would you be doing?

If I didn’t have Six Revisions, I’d have another site! I truly do love building websites and sharing the cool things that I learn to others like me.

7. Having a lot of things to do as a blogger we can sometimes surprise ourselves with how our workstations look, is your workstation neat or do you have to dig around to find some things sometimes?

My workstation is ultra neat because I’m a big fan of minimalism. So there’s very little clutter and mess. Since most of my work is done in the computer, I don’t have much paper to keep around and dig through; I pretty much run a paperless operation. I’ve posted photos of my workspace on Flickr, if you’re interested in seeing the workstation that runs Six Revisions and Design Instruct, here it is:

8. What are the tools you couldn’t live without?

I can’t live without my PC’s, quite obviously. I use two computers regularly: a custom-built Windows machine and a Dell XPS laptop. I can’t live without my Moleskine, which is my task list keeper, planner, idea catcher, wallet, coupon holder, and a place to stick random things into. It’s where I develop a majority of my ideas. You can see a photo of it on Flickr. The photo below shows some notes I took while writing my “Call to Action Buttons” article for Smashing Magazine:

9. Anything else you would like to share with the readers of Creativeoverflow?

Always carry around something that you can take notes on. You never know when an idea will strike or when your creativity decides to kick in. Inspiration can come from odd places and situations and when you’re in that moment, it would be a tragedy if you couldn’t capture it somehow.

Once again Thank you for taking your time to answer our questions.

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